President Obama: “I was betting on the American worker”

Kicking off the Betting on America bus tour today in Maumee, Ohio, President Obama spoke to fired-up supporters about growing our economy from the middle class out—not from the top down.

We don’t need more top-down economics. We’ve tried it; it did not work. What we need is somebody who is out there fighting for the middle class and wants to grow the middle class.

When the American auto industry was on the brink of collapse, and more than 1 million jobs were on the line, Governor Romney said we should just let Detroit go bankrupt.

I refused to turn my back on communities like this one. I was betting on the American worker and I was betting on American industry. And three years later, the American auto industry is coming roaring back. That Chrysler plant up the road bringing on another 1,100 employees to make the cars that the world wants to buy. The Wrangler built right here in Toledo just set an all-time sales record.

What’s happening in Toledo can happen in cities like Cleveland, can happen in Pittsburgh. It can happen in other industries. And that’s why I’m running for a second term as President, because I’m going to make sure that it does. I want it happening all across this country.

… And as long as I’m President, that's what I'm going to be doing—waking up every single day thinking about how we can create more jobs for your families and more security for your communities.

That’s why my administration brought trade cases against China at a faster pace than the previous administration—and we’ve won those cases. Just this morning, my administration took a new action to hold China accountable for unfair trade practices that harm American automakers.

And let me tell you something. Americans aren’t afraid to compete. We believe in competition. I believe in trade. And I know this: Americans and American workers build better products than anybody else—so as long as we're competing on a fair playing field instead of an unfair playing field, we'll do just fine. But we're going to make sure that competition is fair. That's what I believe. That's part of our vision for America.